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TOP STORY OF THE DAY: Could a man from Perth be inspiration for Indiana Jones? Writer, World Traveler
The real-life inspiration for “Indiana Jones” might have roots in Perth, Indiana.
“I would hear my parents talk about ‘Old Gord,’ that’s what my father called him,” said Brazil resident Lois Hughes-Davis, who admits she didn’t pay much attention when she was a kid to the adults talking at the breakfast or dinner table. “I always thought he was a photographer.”
Hughes grew up in Perth, believed “Old Gord” lived there, and included the Lena area in his stomping grounds. “We might have been related somehow, way back there.”
Hughes called The Brazil Times after seeing MacCreagh’s picture in the newspaper, and explained her grandparents’ home burnt down many years ago and believes many of MacCreagh’s photos may have been lost in the fire.
AN INTERESTING LIFE
An American adventurer who searched for the Lost Ark of the Covenant and Noah’s Ark, Gordon McCreagh is a mysterious fellow.
MacCreagh was allegedly born in Clay County, the son of Scottish parents. (However, some documents say Perth, Scotland.) His father, a naturalist, and historian moved the family to America to study Indians.
With MacCreagh’s initial schooling in Perth, he was subsequently sent to Scotland to live with his grandfather and attend school. (There are conflicting documents about this as well.)
At 16, MacCreagh got into a saber duel and won. Thinking he killed a person, MacCreagh fled to India. (Once again, there are conflicting documents about this.) Over the next few years, MacCreagh avoided the bubonic plague in Calcutta, became a coolie overseer in Darjeeling, collected Himalayan insects for a museum collector, and was a big game hunter in India, Malay Islands, and Borneo before going to Africa to collect animals for a circus.
MacCreagh went back to India and allegedly did postal work for British Intelligence for five years, where he first began writing plays.
One play opened at the Amsterdam Theater in New York but was shut down on the grounds of offending public morality with excessive nudity by officials.
Broke, around 1912 or 1913, MacCreagh used his bagpipe skills to join a band, although continuing to write. His foot in the door of the publishing world, MacCreagh began selling his stories to various magazines and newspapers. His first fictional short story was “The Brass Idol” in Adventure magazine.
When World War I broke out, MacCreagh did serve. However, whether he served in the Navy or the Air Force is unclear.
Two years after the war, MacCreagh joined the Mulford Expedition to the Amazon to discover new medicines for tropical diseases and collect specimens, among other items. Due to poor planning and sickness, members returned early.MacCreagh was one of the last to come back.
The classic travel book, “White Waters and Black,” is about his experience.
In June 1923, MacCreagh returned to New York. He met fellow world traveler Helen Komlosy; they fell in love and married a short time later. But there is no record the couple had children.
Funded by Adventure Magazine, the MacCreaghs went to Abyssinia to find the lost Ark of the Covenant. They provided articles about the expedition to the magazine and later turned into a bestselling book - “The last of Free Africa.”
The MacCreaghs returned to explore Africa deeper in the early 1930s. The couple returned to America and drove across the nation in a used car, covering tourist spots.
MacCreagh went to work for Douglas Aircraft during World War II, allegedly worked as an interpreter for the American and British armies, and was shot down during his travels, sustaining a bullet wound.
The MacCreaghs moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, after the war. The couple traveled the lecture tour and gave parties, discussing their travels.
MacCreagh died in 1953, and his wife Helen died in 1962.
PULP FICTION INSPIRES A LEGEND
Gordon MacCreagh was the best-selling author of travel books, but he also sometimes wrote pulp fiction.
Those pulp fiction books and articles were a major source of inspiration in the golden age of Hollywood.
It’s common knowledge that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the “Indiana Jones” adventure series as an homage to the classic adventure films like James Bond and the adventure series they grew up watching.
A selection of these types of movies include:
The Treasure of Sierra Madre - 1948
Valley of the Kings - 1954
Gunga Din - 1939
Zorro Rides Again - 1937
Red River - 1948
Lawerence of Arabia - 1962
China - 1943
King Solomon’s Mines - 1950
Secret of the Incas -1954
The Naked Jungle - 1954
In turn, the “Indiana Jones” series inspired Hollywood to return to the old-school adventure genre since Raiders of the Lost Ark became popular in the summer of 1981 and continues today. The fifth installment of Indiana Jones is expected to be released in June 2023.
If you want to learn more about Gordon McCreagh, check out Indiana Authors at https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/inauthors/.
More information is available at www.encyclopedia.com, Wikipedia, and search for his book titles on https://gutenberg.net.au.